ABN AMRO appointed Francis Birkeland as regional head of shipping and offshore energy for North America within the bank’s energy, commodities and transportation business.

Birkeland will be based in New York and responsible for developing ABN AMRO’s shipping and offshore energy financing business in the U.S. and Canada. He previously led ABN AMRO’s energy and transportation activities in Scandinavia and was country executive for Norway. Since joining the bank in 2000, he has been involved in advising, arranging and leading financings for shipping, oil and offshore services clients across Scandinavia, first as account director, and since 2006, as general manager of the Norway branch as well as country executive.

Before joining ABN AMRO, Birkeland worked for Kvaerner in Oslo, and for Societe Generale in Paris and Luxembourg. He holds a master's degree in finance and management from HEC in Jouy-en-Josas and NHH in Bergen, and is a post graduate of the University of Mannheim in international economics.

Gust Biesbroeck, global head of transportation at ABN AMRO, commented, “A local presence in the shipping and offshore energy markets in North America is of great importance within our global ECT network, both commercially and from a global risk management point of view. Birkelands has played an integral role in building our successful Scandinavian activities and is well qualified to lead the growth of our presence in these industries in the U.S. and Canada.”